Video: Rice Paper Skirt

You know how I’ve mentioned a few times along the way, here, that I really believe that you need to be a “visionary” in order to well-handle this whole cake decorating gig?

I’ve found that when I say that to people, I often get that “sure-sure-I’ve-no-idea-what-you’re-talking-about-but-I’ll-smile-to-make-you-feel-ok-about-it” look. So I think maybe that statement needs some clarification on my part.

What I mean by needing to be a “visionary” is this… you need to be able to visualize what you WANT your end result to be… and you need to be able to hold ON to that vision throughout EACH AND EVERY stage of creating your project.

And if your vision falters… if your brain gets fuzzy and you allow what you’re ACTUALLY seeing at each stage of the process to infiltrate your mind, (aka, thinking that what you’re created thus far will NEVER even come close to what you were hoping it would have been) then there’s a good chance you will break down, mid-creation, sinking to the floor and wrapping yourself into the fetal position, rocking back and forth, sobbing uncontrollably from your perceived failure.

In essence, you will panic. Because 9 times out of 10, your project will not look the way it’s supposed to, right up until the VERY, BITTER end. I kid you not. Too many times I have almost given up… though somehow finding the will to carry the project through, only to discover that at the LAST POSSIBLE MOMENT, that dag nabbit cake actually transformed into what I had intended it to be, all along. Nothing short of miraculous. And unless you realize this strange phenomenon, and embrace it, counting yourself amongst the ranks of the “visionaries”, you may just pass out from the sheer anxiety of it all.

You THINK I’m being dramatic. (Who, ME? 😉 )

But here’s ANOTHER aspect to being a visionary that I find equally as important…

you must ACTUALLY HAVE a vision before you begin.

Oh sure, you can go into any cake project (or any project AT ALL) half blind, having no solid idea what you really want the end result to be… but if you do, there’s a good chance that you’re setting yourself up for some SEVERE anxiety along the way, and you may even find that you can’t quite follow through to the end due to your lack of passion. Or, if you DO finish, you may walk away with a bad taste in your mouth, kindo’ sorto’ hating having made that one.

And if you haven’t enjoyed “creating”, than what was the point to begin with, right?

So I’m just gonna be straight with you… I STRUGGLED to grab hold of a vision for this one. The dress just did not inspire me.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a LOVELY dress… and J-Lo looks her usual gorgeous self in it, it’s true… but I just couldn’t get my brain to get excited about recreating it in cake. I COULDN’T SEE IT. And I almost dropped out of the online, Red Carpet Cake Collaboration that I was set to make it for.

But who likes a party pooper, right? And then there was this little part of my brain, not so nicely stating, “You’re SUPPOSED to be an artist, Shawna Marie. Stop being a baby and FIGURE.IT.OUT.” (Nasty little brain.)

So I did what any self-respecting, slightly childish woman would… I shouted back, “FINE!” (whist mentally sticking out my tongue), I put on my big girl panties, and I gave that Jenny-on-the-Block inspiration photo ONE LAST LONG LOOK.

And that’s when I saw it. The vision came. (God was prolly like,”Woman, you are WEARING ME OUT. Here you go.”)

It was a simple vision, mind you, but it was something I could get behind… something I could get excited about. (And when I realized that the rice paper I had been toying around with rather recently could be a fun medium to use in the process, well… heck, I couldn’t wait to get started.)

So, moral of the story? Pfft… who knows? Sometimes, it’s just a diarrhea of the mouth day. Lucky you. 😉 teehee Xx

Some notes…

I made the bottom tier’s “dress” out of rice paper.

There’s a video tutorial up top of how I went about this part…

Here’s a work in progress photo of the rice paper dress being added.

I dusted it with silver luster dust once it was dry, and added a fancy top border to clean it up a bit.

It’s perfect time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy. I’ve read this post and if I could I want to suggest you some interesting things or tips. Maybe you could write next articles referring to this article. I wish to read ev…